WFAA8's Daybreak re-aligns its personalities while Cynthia Izaguirre is on maternity leave
04/11/12 11:36 AM
By ED BARK
WFAA8 officially has its Daybreak replacement troops in place while co-anchor Cynthia Izaguirre is on maternity leave awaiting the birth of her twins.
"I'm on full bed rest till twins come. We're really approaching the finish line now. Prayers r welcome! :)," Izaguirre tweeted Tuesday.
During her absence from Daybreak, traffic reporter Alexa Conomos will join Ron Corning at the anchor desk while weekend morning/weekday fill-in meteorologist Colleen Coyle tries her hand at traffic and meteorologist Greg Fields stays in place.
The interim game plan was confirmed by several sources at the Dallas-based ABC affiliate. News director Carolyn Mungo so far has not returned emails asking for official word on the changes.
Meanwhile, another face familiar to some local viewers will be filling in for Coyle on weekend mornings. Former CBS11 early morning meteorologist Julie Bologna showed up on Saturday's edition and later posted a Facebook video of her deviled eggs segment with Amy Kushnir of "My Texas Today."
"Julie is a meteorologist working in our weather department," WFAA8 vice president of product development Dave Muscari said without elaboration in a Wednesday email. Her stint with the station likely is temporary for now.
Bologna worked for CBS11 from 2004 to 2008 before returning to her hometown of Pittsburgh and her previous station, WPXI-TV. But she left that station for a second time last July, saying that her demanding weathercasting schedule made it too difficult to maintain a healthy family life.
As previously posted, Bologna interviewed at Fox4 in late January of this year for a weather staff position that hasn't yet been filled. Under the terms of her new contract, Fox4 weathercaster and lifestyles correspondent Fiona Gorostiza will become a full-time reporter after her replacement is named.
Daybreak, which has built considerable momentum in recent months, came within an eyelash in the February "sweeps" ratings period of overtaking NBC5 for second place (in the key 25-to-54 demographic) in the early morning news ratings. The four-week May sweeps start on April 26th and end on May 23rd. WFAA8 will be without Izaguirre for that entire period.